Upscale apartments planned in Warsaw
By Linda Lipp | Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly
Redwood Living has built four apartment complexes in Fort Wayne in just a few years. Now it has turned its attention to Warsaw, where it plans to construct a 93-unit complex on a 16-acre property at 3114 E. U.S. 30.
The upscale apartment homes will all be single story, with attached garages, mirroring the design of Redwood’s Fort Wayne properties. A six-acre site adjacent to the apartment community is being developed as a Holiday Express hotel.
Redwood’s Fort Wayne projects — Atrium Village, Centennial Highlands, Maplecrest and Williamsburg Village — have done well, and the Atrium and Williamsburg properties are now leasing for their second phases.
The Warsaw market is a little different than Fort Wayne’s, said Bill Drinkall, of NAI Hanning & Bean, who represented Redwood in the land purchase. It’s not as big a market, and the land price was fairly expensive. But Redwood hopes to attract the same kind of young professionals, and older empty nesters, who are willing to pay a higher price to have all the comforts of a home without the responsibilities.
Construction work on the Warsaw complex will probably begin next spring.
When Redwood began building its communities in Fort Wayne in 2014, there really hadn’t been a lot of new apartments built in Fort Wayne for a few years, with the exception of two apartment complexes near the Parkview Regional Medical Center Campus.
Each apartment community Redwood has built here consists entirely of single-story, two-bedroom, two-bath units, about 1,300 square feet in size, with private attached two-car garages. The open concept design and generous living spaces are more like condominiums, but without the upfront purchase costs and continuing condo fees.
The complexes don’t have clubhouses, although Redwood does build in walking trails. The biggest advantage of the single-story style is there is no one upstairs creating noise.
Redwood Living was founded by Steve Kimmelman in 1991, and began building apartment communities in earnest in Ohio in 2001. It has a number of apartment communities in the Indianapolis area and also has expanded into Michigan, Iowa and the Carolinas, building and managing thousands of units.
